Kabul
\nA Pakistani commerce ministry delegation is scheduled to arrive in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday to explore ways to remove obstacles in transit and bilateral trade, said an Afghan official.
\nAbdul Salam Jawad, spokesman for the Afghan Commerce Ministry, confirmed to Dawn.com today that Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi will lead the Afghan delegation.
\nForeign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed that the Pakistani delegation, headed by Secretary of Commerce Khurram Agha, will undertake the two-day visit.
\n\u201cPakistan remains committed to promoting trade and people-to-people ties with Afghanistan,\u201d Baloch added.
\nOther delegates from Pakistan include Joint Secretary (Ministry of Commerce), Maria Qazi, Additional Secretary Commerce Dr Wajid Ali Khan, Director General Transit Trade and Additional Secretary of Interior Khushal Khan.
\nDiscussions will be held on overall bilateral and transit trade, said the Afghan Commerce Ministry\u2019s spokesman.
\n\u201cWe will take up the issue of a ban on several transit items. Pakistan has banned the import of certain items under the transit agreement. Around 50 per cent of transit trade has been decreased due to this ban and shifted to Iran,\u201d Jawad said.
\nThe talks will be held amid efforts by both sides to normalise relations following Pakistani airstrikes in two Afghan provinces on March 18.
\nAfghan charge d\u2019affaires Sardar Shokaib Ahmad rushed to Kabul to brief officials about his meetings in Islamabad.
\nShokaib met acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and briefed him regarding recent developments in the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, deputy foreign ministry spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takkal said.
\n\u201cDuring the meeting, Mawlawi Sardar Ahmed Shakib, acting head of the Afghan embassy in Pakistan, shared the report of his recent meetings with the Pakistani officials with FM Muttaqi, and held in-depth discussion thereof,\u201d Takkal wrote on X.
\n\u201cFollowing briefing, FM Muttaqi gave necessary instructions to the Acting Head of the Afghan embassy in Islamabad with regards to the existing situation and relations of the two countries,\u201d he said.
\nThe Afghan embassy earlier said that Shakib met Pakistan\u2019s Special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani on March 22 and \u201caddressed recent challenges between the two countries, the revitalisation of political, commercial, people-to-people and other aspects of bilateral relations.\u201d
\nThe Afghan Commerce Ministry said the two sides spoke about the progress made over the last two years.
\nThey discussed options for increasing the volume of bilateral trade, solving problems and removing trade and transit barriers, providing more facilities, establishing close relations between the public and private sectors of the two countries, and increasing regional cooperation.
\nThe Afghan minister also invited Khurram Agha to visit Kabul with a delegation to hold further discussions on bilateral trade issues. Pakistani and Afghan business leaders expect the talks in Kabul will be useful.
\nPak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) Khan Jan Alkozai said that the new government in Pakistan will address the concerns of Afghan importers. Alkozai mentioned a 10 per cent hike in import duty on Afghan transit trade introduced in October last year. He also complained about adding more transit items to the negative list.
\n\u201cMore problems for Afghan importers were created during the caretaker government in Pakistan. Pakistan and the Islamic Emirate should pave the way to normalise bilateral and transit trade,\u201d Alkozai told Dawn.com from Kabul today.
\nHe said transit via Pakistan has substantially decreased and Afghan importers moved their business to ports in Iran.
\nPakistani traders also urge officials to facilitate transit and bilateral trade with Afghanistan as it is a win-win situation for both.
\nCoordinator PAJCCI Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi recalled that in October the Ministry of Commerce, through issuing SRO 1380, imposed a ban on 14 items of Afghan Transit Trade which in a larger context constitute around 212 items, besides the enforcement of 100 per cent bank guarantee.
\n\u201cThe cargo goods were already covered under insurance guarantee and all the goods were going safely to Afghanistan for the last 13 years,\u201d Sarhadi told Dawn.com today. He demanded revoking the 100 per cent bank guarantee and the revival of the old insurance guarantee system.
\nSarhadi recalled that both countries had set the target of increasing trade volume to $5 billion, but it had decreased to $1.4 billion.
\nPakistani and Afghan traders have long been insisting on separating trade from political issues, however, no attention has ever been paid to this demand.
\nDefence Minister Khawaja Asif warned this week that Islamabad could block the corridor it provided to Afghanistan for trade with India. The defence minister asserted that Pakistan had the right to stop facilitating Kabul if it failed to curb anti-Pakistan terrorists operating on Afghan soil.
\n\u201cIf Afghanistan treats us like an enemy, then why should we give them a trade corridor?\u201d he asked in an interview with Voice of America<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kabul A Pakistani commerce ministry delegation is scheduled to arrive in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday to explore ways to remove obstacles in transit and bilateral trade, said an Afghan official. Abdul Salam Jawad, spokesman for the Afghan Commerce Ministry, confirmed to Dawn.com today that Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi will lead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-395989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n